Chapter 5: Is This A Cult?

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Warnings: none,

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Shinso's POV

Kaminari is rushed to the hospital, the police send a fruitless search for the gunman, and I am left to ponder the events of today. It's not long before I reach a point where questioning everything is no longer helpful, so I sit in the waiting room anxious for news on Kaminari's condition.

Four hours later, the wandering of my thoughts is interrupted by another hero bursting through the door. It's Midoriya, whom I informed about the incident when I first arrived here because I'll need someone with his deductive reasoning skills for this case.

"Shinso! How is Kaminari? Is he still alive?" he asks, franticity lacing his words.

"They have yet to give me an update, but of what I know, yes. He's still breathing." I allow him to calm down before adding, "But I wanted specifically you to be here because of something else that happened."

He relaxes into the chair beside mine with a more serious expression.

"Have you heard the name 'Yomigami' before?" I ask.

Midoriya places his first knuckle against his mouth and tilts his head down.

"I know that Yomigami is the Celestial Brush god of rejuvenation – which I doubt relates to this event; however, the kanji used in that spelling are still very telling. Yomi, the kanji for the underworld, is also used in the verb yomigaeru, meaning to bring back to life or resurrect. And gami, when used as a suffix, means god. So, perhaps this Yomigami character is seen as the god of the afterlife, or of the bridge between life and death – which makes sense with the little context you've given me.

"The name still sounds familiar, though. I must have heard it somewhere over the years. The internet, with as dense and deep as it is, must have something to jog my memory," he says pulling out his phone and typing the name into the search bar.

The first website to appear is a news article that dates back to almost nine years ago. It talks about an incident with The Hero Killer: Stain from our first year at UA, before I joined the hero course; however, it glazes over the events leading up to the attack on Hosu City. The main article talks about an event occurring after he died. I notice Midoriya's eyes grow wide.

"That's right! It happened so long ago, and nothing related happened afterwards, so I completely forgot about it," he exclaims scrolling to a video toward the middle of the article. "After Stain died from a rib piercing his lung, his body was being transported to the other side of the city and stopped in the city's center. Here, watch what happened."

As he plays the video fullscreen, it displays the silent feed from a traffic camera, showing a black car resembling a hearse stopped at the red light. While crowds of people cross the road in every direction, a hand punches through the roof of the car from the inside before ripping the metal roof apart. Out from the human sized hole steps Stain, very much alive and causing the crowd to go into a panic. The video switches to video and audio recorded from a phone only a few meters away from him.

"To the humans inhabiting this Earth, I return to this realm bearing a message of blessing, and of warning. Humanity has been led astray, and the judgment day is approaching us all, but under the Yomigami's guidance, you can all receive their grace and mercy as I have. Find your humility and return the world to one of acceptance and equality.

"The age of heroes is coming to an end! Praise the Yomigami!" Stain proclaims letting his scarves fall to the ground and looking toward the entirely clouded sky.

Then, his feet are lifted off the roof of the car as he floats upward, above the rooftops and disappearing into the clouds. The person holding the camera rushes over to the car and picks up a very tangible red scarf from the road. The video ends.

Midoriya leaves the news page and continues searching, finding a multitude of websites containing lore, stories, prayers, evidence, etc. The users are all anonymous, but there are thousands upon thousands of them, which blows my mind. How have I never heard of such an expansive community before? Should I even refer to it as a community? It's closer to a religion, or a cult.

"I remember there being a search for Stain, but his body was never recovered. Some people dismissed it as talented video editing, or a mass hallucination, but apparently other people believed what he said. And they went all out. It's been nearly a decade, yet these people are still very dedicated; if a villain is behind this, this level of dedication from supporters would make them very powerful," Midoriya speculates.

"And very dangerous."

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A/N: I spent way too much time brainstorming ideas for the villain name. I wanted it to be Japanese based rather than English based, and when I figured something out I couldn't just not explain it. And Midoriya was the perfect vessel to do so with considering his deep thinking capabilities (or however one might describe them).

Word Count: 877

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